The present invention relates to a transmission gear shift apparatus for vehicles.
A conventional automatic transmission shifts gears by connecting and releasing gearsets with a clutch based on the vehicle speed or throttle opening. Further, a manual shift valve is actuated when a parking position or reverse gear is selected. The manual shift valve is also actuated when restricting forward gears to a predetermined low speed gear.
The manual shift valve is switched by a lever installed near the driver""s seat. In a shift-by-wire automatic transmission, an actuator, which is operated by switches, shifts the manual shift valve. In this structure, an electric circuit connects the switch and the actuator. It is desirable that the electric circuit be used more effectively to make such a shift apparatus more compact, for example, by connecting an ignition switch, which starts the engine, to the electric circuit or by concentrating various switches and lever operation transmission mechanisms within a small area.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact transmission shift apparatus for vehicles.
To achieve the above object, the present invention presents a shift apparatus for shifting gears in a vehicle driven by an engine. The shift apparatus includes a shift selector that rotates between a plurality of predetermined positions to instruct the shifting of gears in accordance with the position of the shift selector. A movable engine start actuator is arranged at substantially the same location as the shift selector to instruct the starting of the engine when the actuator is pushed. A confirming device confirms that the person operating the shift apparatus is the proper user. An enabling device enables the movement of the engine start actuator based on the confirmation result of the confirming device. A first detector detects whether the engine start actuator is pushed. A second detector detects the position of the shift selector. A controller starts the engine based on the detection result of the first detector and shifts gears based on the detection result of the second detector.